Faculty senate has been giving the staff of the University a voice since it was implemented in 1964.
Reviewing various policies that affect the faculty here at the University, faculty senate is to the staff what the Undergraduate Student Government is to the students.
“I see the senate’s role, generally, on campus is that we serve as an advisee group for faculty members,” professor Patrick Pauken, chair of this year’s faculty senate said.
The senate, which consists of 62 senators, covers issues that the faculty feels need to be discussed. These issues can range from academic and pay/tenure issues, to faculty welfare and budgets for the college.
All faculty-related problems go through the faculty senate, and they decide which policies will pass and which ones will not. This makes the senate an important aspect on campus and at the same time gives the staff a voice too.
“We are not employees in a factory,” said professor Richard Hebein, secretary of faculty senate.
“We generate knowledge, and the faculty needs to play a role in how that knowledge is discussed,” Hebein added.
Hebein, who has been involved with the senate for 38 years, went on to state that the faculty has the right to make final decisions and a right to be consulted about what goes on at the University.
Despite the importance of faculty senate, some students don’t know how it affects them.
“I have been here for three years and I feel like I am actively involved in campus, and I’m not sure what faculty senate is,” said senior Jackie Maciupa, an applied health science major.
According to Pauken, it is important for students to know what the senate does because it impacts students.
“We are one of the primary policy-making bodies on campus,” he said. “Decisions made in faculty senate will affect students’ lives somehow. If it affects faculty lives, it will somehow relate to students.”
The faculty senate meetings are open to the public, and non-faculty members are encouraged to come.
The first faculty senate meeting is at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4, at the McFall Center in the senate gallery.
Throughout the year, all meetings will take place at 2:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month in the senate gallery.
